Pages

Sunday, March 29, 2009

I'm going to try to chronicle some of the house buying details here every once in a while. I'm going to start with some 'before' pictures.....

Let us enter through the side door. First you enter the porch.......Then you go into the kitchen where we are going to do some math.Dishwasher = good, black = bad (all other appliances are white)Cabinets = paint. Faux brick linoleum floor = ewwww!Painting cabinets + replacing floor = a lot of work. Looking forward to it though!

Next, lets take a step into the living room..... Much less work in here!

First floor bedroom. Paint required.

First floor den or small bedroom. Future home of bookcases and Link.

Bathroom. Workable as it is, but will need changing some day.Let's climb the stairs to the second floor! I happen to like these stairs, but not the hideous poles on the right. They extend to the ceiling! Can we spell chainsaw??I've got plans for the stair risers.....

Bad picture, but this is the future home of the craft room. It also has a lovely wooden floor. No more pins sticking out of carpet!Here is a shot of the backyard. There is a little stream that you can't see!Our definite pre-moving renovating plans are:1.) Refinish all wood floors2.) Paint cabinets white with an antiqe/distressed stain3.) Paint kitchen, living room, bedroom walls and trim

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Here are some baby shower presents for a little boy who will be born soon!

His parents have named him Jayden, so he got a super J on his little onesie! I've been wanting to try to make those cute little comfy looking baby shoes that I see on lots of blogs. They were really quite fun to make! These were made from a tutorial found here: Baby shoe tutorial

And for his room - a paper mache moneky J!

Mama called the doctor and the doctor said, "NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED!"

Friday, March 20, 2009

First, it was an unexpected cruise to Mexico, booked late enough that we got a fantastic deal.

Now, we are unexpectedly buying a house! I know you are thinking that it's difficult to buy a house unexpectedly. I agree.

My husband had his eye on the housing market to prepare us for the future. We thought it might be this year that we buy our first house (the stimulus plan, despite its faults, definitely helps first time home buyers!), but probably later in the year. Well, later came a little sooner than expected! We found this cute 50s cape on a quiet street with a nice piece of land and we decided to go for it!

My mind is almost exploding with the decorating opportunities! A brand new craft room! Paintable walls! New curtains! Gardens! New floor in the kitchen!

The sweetest thing is watching my husband peruse the hardware stores. They are relevant now. He's almost a homeowner!

We get to go in the house tomorrow for the first time since signing on to buy it, so I'll be back with pictures!

Monday, March 2, 2009

Confession: I'm a disinterested cook. I like all sorts of domestic felicities - sewing, decorating, baking, even cleaning I don't mind. I am not excited about cooking.

My big caveat with cooking is that you put lots of effort into something that will very soon be digested. If you spend a few hours on a bag, you can carry it around for years. You make pillows, curtains, clothing, you can see your accomplishment in front of you.

With cooking, you turn in circles and do 17 backflips in order to make sure this is defrosted, that is measured, that is timed. You used the 3/4 measuring cup for that and now need it for this so you have to wash it in the middle of everything else. You just touched raw eggs now you touched this so you backtrack over your steps with disinfectant cloths. Where is that wisk? Whoops! You are out of bread crumbs! What was that timer set for? What is half of 3/8? What is double 1 and 2/3? You forgot that the vegetable should have been cooking by now.... the chicken has been done for 10 minutes, the rice will be done in 7 and the vegetables in 10. Then you sit down to enjoy your hard work and what took 40 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to clean took 10 minutes to eat.

Sigh.

I am also selective about food, so my options are not that diverse. We don't really like seafood or cheese - two recipe ruiners.

I do like slow cooker meals so that everything is ready.

I've started to watch cooking shows, but their recipes are too exotic for me. I'm a meat and potatoes kind of girl. With lots of garlic. :D

Tomorrow I'm starting a class. I haven't taken an official class in quite a few years and I'm really looking forward to this one. It's something I've wanted to do for eeons. It's a creative class, but does not have to do with sewing, painting, computers, or drawing. :D Any guesses?

Don't guess if you know already!

Anyway, laptop (whose name is Lillith by the way) is coming with me, so of course laptop needed a cozy cute carrying tote! My justification skills are incredible....

The great things about this tote is that it is completely stash fabric and it uses Sis Boom by Jennifer Paganelli, which I love!

Bag Specs: Pattern - me

Fabric - Pink - Girlfriends Karen by Jennifer Paganelli

Stripes - Girlfriends Sophie by Jennifer Paganelli

Inside - Grandma's Garden by Nancy Mahoney

Flower - I forget

The fabric flower was super simple to make and uses a tutorial from a really funny blog, Plumtickled. My friend Hillary makes pretty and stylish floral belts and I thought it might be fun to make a crazy belt with a fabric flower! I'll let you know how it goes.

I had a fun day snowbound by lots of drifting and blowing snow. Tonight it's back to tennis, so I'll actually have to leave my house. BRRRRRRRRR!